Movember Moustache Fail

I was hoping to round up the month of Movember with an awesome moustache manicure to show my support for the cause, unfortunately my water decals had other ideas...

 

 

As you can see from the pictures, as well as smearing when I applied top coat, they bubbled horribly on my nail leaving a really sloppy finish which I was far from happy with.

 

 

I have no idea what went wrong, it seemed like as I applied my top coat (Sally Hansen Insta Dri for those keen to know) the water decals began to lift from my nail leaving bubbles around the edges and then the images began to smear.

 

I know several other people who have used these decals with no issue so I am not sure whether mine were faulty or it is entirely user error on my part.  I followed the brief instructions given and I patted them dry before I applied top coat so I'm not sure what happened!

 

If you have any advice on how to get them to work better I would love to hear it, I have another set which I want to use for an event in December and I am really hoping the effect is better than this!

 

So, wise readers, what are your water decal top tips?

Barry M - Blue Moon

Today I have for you one of my favourite Barry M shades, Blue Moon.  It's a pale blue polish with a very subtle shimmer through it.  I like to call this my Blue Tac polish as the colour reminds me so much of Blue Tac.  In bright light you can see a little of the almost hidden shimmer:

 

 

In lower light you can really see it's Blue Tac colour, which I love!

 

 

I adore this colour, it's cool and crisp and perfect for winter. 

 

The one downside of this polish is that it's very sheer, these pictures are 3 thick coats, the gorgeous colour does make up for the fact that it takes a little longer to apply though.

Bunny Nails - HD Plates - HD06 - HD10

Today I have part two of my recent haul from Bunny Nails eCrater store.  This is set two from the HD series, plates 6-10.  The HD series features holiday themed designs like Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas. The second set focuses mainly on Christmas with a Thanksgiving completing the set, the only one from the collection I have tried so far.

 

On to the close ups!  Again I have left the protective film on the plates in these photos, that needs to come off before stamping.

As an added bonus with this set you get 2 free plates, as far as I know they are ones which Bunny wasn't totally happy with and so had remade, they are duplicates of two of the other plates with a few small difference, mainly the size of the images (most are too big for smaller nails).  I'm sure there are some I can make use of though and really who doesn't love a little bonus freebie?

I am so glad these were in stock and arrived before Christmas, there are so many cute designs I want to use over the holiday period.  Look out for a selection of them coming to the blog soon.

I have already used the Thanksgiving themed plate, which you can see here.  It stamped beautifully and if the quality is the same across all the plates I'll be delighted, it was so easy to work with.

As with the other times I ordered from her Bunny Nails' service was great; good prices, great communication and fast shipping considering they come from the other side of the world. So if you're looking for something to do your spooky themed or Christmas stamping manicures with then I suggest you check her store out.

Bunny Nails - HD Plates - HD01 - HD05

Today I have part one of my latest haul from Bunny Nails eCrater store plates 1-5 from her HD series.  The HD series features holiday themed designs like Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas.  The first set focuses mainly on Halloween.

 

 

I WISH these plates had been delivered in time for Halloween in the UK, I don't think I can wait until next year to use the designs, they are so cute!  Thankfully, as well as being suitable for Halloween a lot of them are just generally spooky themed and could be used all year round.  I can definitely feel a zombie manicure coming on at some point in the future...

 

Now, on to some close ups of the plates!  They still have their protective film on for now, I find them a bit easier to take photographs of that way.

 

 

The final plate in this set is the first Christmas themed one and will definitely be getting an outing very soon, I can't wait to try the little stag and the snowflakes.

 

 

I've yet to use any of the plates from this set but I have tried one from the other half of the series (HB06-HB10) and it stamped beautifully so I have high hopes that the rest are of similar quality, I'm sure they will be.  Obviously I will report back as soon as I have tried them out.

 

As with the other times I ordered from her Bunny Nails' service was great; good prices, great communication and fast shipping considering they come from the other side of the world.  So if you're looking for something to do your spooky themed or Christmas stamping manicures with then I suggest you check her store out.

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Grapefruit

I was in a serious rush last night to change my nail polish so I decided to try something I hoped would be super fast and still look good.  Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine polishes were sold as one coaters which would leave you with a glossy gel like finish on your nails. 

 

So far I have only really used them for stamping (which they are incredible for!) so I was keen to see how they stood up as a regular polish.  I chose shade 8, Grapefruit which is a juicy pinky peachy coral shade.

 

 

 

The polish applied beautifully, but I was a little disappointed that even after 2 coats it didn't seem fully opaque to me, it did have a definite jelly look to it, as if the colour had been built up by lots and lots of sheer layers rather than just two almost opaque coats which I liked, it's a very juicy looking polish.

 

 

 

The polish is leaning quite coral in some of these shots, I would say in reality it is definitely a pink and in the right lights it can seem pretty bright, almost verging on neon.

 

 

While I'm not blown away by this colour as a stand alone shade I do like it; it was easy and smooth to apply, the colour is good and it does have a nice jelly type finish to it with good shine (although I still added topcoat so it's hard to tell what's that and what is the original polish finish). 

 

The major benefit of this polish is it's stamping ability and because of that it will definitely have a place in my collection for the foreseeable future.

British Nail Bloggers - Weekly Round Up!

Another round up from the UK bloggers!

Emma practices polka dots in this China Glaze dotticure at Emma's Little Corner.

Nada got her hands on Miss Sporty's new nail polishes Metal Flip Duochromes! Check out the swatches!

Lyndsay from Pie's Eyes has been playing with fire this week Max Factor's Fantasy Fire. It's fast becoming a Top 10 polish!

Jazz at Glitter Infatuation has been continuing the Lazy 15 Challenge Even if that means interpreting it in her own funny way.. Glitter is appropriate no what what the occasion!

Wendy over at Wendy's Delights has a Yellow Mani with Glitter for the 31 day Challenge!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been fishscale manicuring it up - there is a tutorial too!

Rachel at Phoenix Nails has been getting all childish with a Disney mani for day 9 of the Lazy 15 challenge.

Vic's been experimenting with layering and has come up with a Swishy Junk Yard.

Sally of NailPron has found some new Speciallita polishes, and they look amazing.

Anna from Anna's Polish Addiction has tried Nails Inc Southwark from the most recent QVC Today's Special Value, posted a rainbow mani and more pics of her stash.

Sam at Polished Art created this pretty half moon manicure using dried flowers!

Kerry at JustTalkNails has a swatch of Essie Smooth Sailing this week.

This week there was some Quilted Nail Art going on over at Enigmatic Rambles.

W7 Multi Dazzle

 

Today's polish is W7116 Multi Dazzle, a little bit of bling for the weekend!  To me it looks like a pretty close dupe of Happy Birthday by Deborah Lippmann / OPI Rainbow Collection / Milani Gems which for £1.99 you can't complain about.  I do love a bargain dupe and this one arrived in my recent haul from Nail Polish Direct!  And no, I'm not sponsored by them, honest. ;)

 

As you can see from the pictures application isn't great, this is 4 coats and you can see that it still isn't opaque all over, there are little bits of nail peeking through in places.  Another issue is that by the time you get 4 coats of glitter on it's very hard to get anywhere close to a smooth finish.

 

 

I definitely think this polish would benefit from a base coat of nail polish in a complementary or contrasting colour, that way only 2 coats would give you a gorgeous glittery look without being too thick and patchy on the nail.

 

 

 

I don't think the coverage is anything to do with the brand, I have Milani Gems and have exactly the same issue with it, I think it's just something which is inherent with these types of heavy glitter polish.

 

Regardless of how it covers I do love this polish, it's bright and sparkly and ideal for a party or a night out, you can see why the Deborah Lippmann version is called happy Birthday!

W7 Cosmin Purple

 

Today I have another W7 polish to show off from my recent mini haul.  W7 is a brand that is really growing on me, they are quick to pick up trends in nail varnish and then bring them to the market at a very reasonable price.  Today's colour is 71 Cosmic Purple.

 

With flash you can see it really does sparkle, it's a sheer purple jelly base filled with pink, purple and silver glitter.  The is three coats but it was almost opaque in 2.

 

These aren't the best of pictures, I painted my nails and then spent the following day doing a lot of housework, I'd used a peel off base coat underneath and I think the combination of this and the washing up (with gloves of course!) loosened a few of them off, so in these pictures a couple have had to be stuck back down with clear top coat, weird shaped index nail I am looking at you.

 

Despite the popping off issue I had I really loved this polish, it's a great colour, super sparkly and applied really nicely.  Definitely no complaints especially since it only cost me £1.99, another winner from W7.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was a little caught out by this one, I had been planning on doing a Thanksgiving manicure for my almost mum-in-law who lives in the US but somehow I had convinced myself that Thanksgiving was next week so this ended up being a rather rushed last minute effort last night which I'm not 100% pleased with.

 

It did however give me chance to try out a new stamping plate I recently ordered from Bunny Nails, more to come on those soon, which features lots of (what I assume, I'm not very up on the ins and outs of Thanksgiving, are) Thanksgiving type designs.

 

 

I used the turkey, the pie slice and the apple and they all stamped beautifully using Barry M Gold Foil, if the rest of these plates stamp as well as this one does I will be delighted.

 

I also added on some little leaves to symbolise the season; Autumn, or Fall if we're sticking with the American theme.

 

 

The base is Kiko 374 which is a rich chocolate brown with tiny shimmer particles through it.

 

 

Overall, I am not that pleased with this manicure, I like the colours but I think the stamping is a bit sloppy and not too well thought out and if I'd had more time I could definitely have done better.  However I love the little leave stickers, I think they look really cute and seasonal, I have some more left so I may use them again before Autumn is over.

New Sparkles

 

While I was browsing nail blogs online the other day I came across a post about a gorgeous polish called Cosmic Purple by W7, I decided that I had to have it and my first port of call for W7 polishes is always Nail Polish Direct.  I found Cosmic Purple and also added Cosmic Green and Multi Dazzle to my order.

 

They arrived so quickly, it felt like less than 24 hours since I'd ordered, in fact they were so fast that they almost beat the email I received to tell me they had been dispatched.  Here they are:

 

 

 

Cosmic Purple is a sheer purple jelly base with blue, purple and silver glitter through it, Cosmic Green is a clear base with yellowy lime green and blue glitter and Multi Dazzle is a clear base with, surprise, surprise, multi coloured glitter through it, there are large pieces and small pieces.  This one looks very much like a dupe of Happy Birthday by Deborah Lippmann / OPI Rainbow Collection / Milani Gems which for £1.99 is no bad thing!

 

 

 

I can't wait to try these polishes out so keep your eyes open for some blog posts featuring them very soon!

Kiko 385

I've had another chop so we're back to short nails again, I went climbing the other day and it's pretty much impossible to do that with anything but the shortest of nails so a quick trim was in order.

 

Today's polish is a gorgeous bright blue cream from Kiko, 385, as with almost all of the Kiko creams it applies beautifully and is fully opaque in 2 coats.

 

 

What's hard to tell from the daylight photos is that the polish has a slightly rubberised finish to it and is so bright it's almost neon in colour, it really jumps out at you.  You can see the finish and colour pretty well here in the flash shots, just try and ignore the stray cat hairs, it's not easy to stay hair free if you paint your nails with someone furry sitting right on you!

 

 

 

In daylight the colour does still pop and is a very bright blue but you lose a touch of that in your face look in the photos of it.

 

 

 

 

I can't see this polish lasting long without a little addition, so watch this space...

Max Factor Fantasy Fire

I love this polish, I don't think I could ever choose one favourite polish but without a doubt this one is in my top 10.  It's different in every single light and rarely looks the same on your nails for more than a minute at a time.  It reminds me of Nfu Oh 51 without the flakies and with a bit more colour shift.

 

 

It's a purple-ish jelly base filled with colour shifting glitter particles which change from pink to bronze to purple to green to gold and back again under different lighting conditions.

 

 

In low light it's a subtle grapey pink shade.

 

 

But under artificial light it really comes into it's own.

 

 

 

 

I'm sure it'a also amazing in bright, direct sunlight but since it's November in Glasgow I have no way of backing this claim up. ;)

 

 

 

There isn't much more to be said about this polish, I love it, these photos are two coats over a dark base, again I seem to have quite a bit of tip wear which I think is down to my top coat, hopefully I'll get it sorted soon, on the plus side my cuticles are looking slightly better. ;)

 

Have you tried Fantasy Fire yet, what do you think?